Earthmoving device with materials handling improvements

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a device for scraping material from the earth. The device has a scraper housing, which may be attached to the front of a bulldozer or other earthmoving vehicle. The scraper housing may generally include a back wall, a first side wall, a second side wall, a center support, and a brace. The device may be equipped with a scraper blade attached to an earth transfer plate, the scraper blade attached proximate to the front of the scraper housing. As the scraper housing is urged forward, the scraper blade scrapes material from the earth which, by the force of the material being scraped, is forced along the earth transfer plate. After reaching the end of the earth transfer plate, the material can be deposited onto a scraper conveyor that has a belt extending between the side walls of the housing. The scraper conveyor belt continuously moves material toward an opening in the second wall. The device may also include a boom conveyor extending from an outside portion of the second side wall of the scraper housing and located below the opening in the second side wall to catch material conveyed past the edge of the scraper conveyor belt to carry the material to a distant location. For example the boom conveyor may be positioned over a truck so that material is continuously moved from the scraper housing to the truck for transportation and dumping. The boom conveyor may be supported by an adjustable support member. To assist movement of material along the upwardly sloped surface of the earth transfer plate a rotating shaft above that plate with plates or vanes extending therefrom can be used.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-in-Part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/368,194 filed on Mar. 3, 2006. The benefit of thisapplication pursuant to 35 USC §120 is requested.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to earthmoving equipment.Earthmoving equipment is typically used for excavating, pushing, and/ortransporting large quantities of earth. Some examples of earthmovingequipment include bulldozers, road graders, track or wheel front endloaders, backhoes, bucket wheel excavators, and wheel tractor-scrapers.More particularly, the invention relates to a device that can beattached to conventional earthmoving equipment to enhance its materialscraping and transportation abilities.

In earthmoving, the goals are to move material quickly and economically.Typically to increase the speed of removal requires a higher investmentcost in more expensive equipment. For example, a piece of specializedheavy equipment, similar to the wheel-tractor scraper disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 6,276,077, is used to remove and transport large amounts ofearth. The wheel tractor-scraper has a rear portion with a verticallymoveable hopper that has a sharp horizontal front edge. The hopper canbe hydraulically lowered and raised. In the lowered position, the frontedge of the hopper “cuts” into the soil, which is then collected intothe hopper as the scraper advances along its path. When the hopper isfilled, it can be closed with a vertical blade and the tractor-scraperis driven to a desired location, typically called a “fill” area, wherethe contents are dumped. Scrapers can be very efficient on short haulswhere the cut and fill areas are close together and have a scraping areaof sufficient length to fill the hopper. One disadvantage of wheeledtractor-scrapers is that they are large, expensive machines that arehighly specialized solely for the purpose of scraping and dumping.Furthermore, the operator must cease scraping to dump the contents ofthe hopper, which consumes valuable time.

Another disadvantage of such devices is their weight, especially whenloaded. That weight can cause severe problems when operating in certainsoil conditions, more particularly the weight of the device can breakthrough the soil surface. That, in turn, can mire the device in loosesoil and prevent effective scraping.

Other prior material removal devices, such as the continuous excavatingmachine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,880 (Nozaki et al.), comprisesa rotating cutter drum which loosens earth and deposits it on a scraperthat is pulled or pushed along the ground to collect the loosenedmaterial and force it onto a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt transfersthe material to a desired location or dump truck for transporting to amore distant location. The primary disadvantage of this type of scraperis that, like the tractor-scraper, a user must purchase a separate pieceof relatively large and expensive equipment to loosen and removematerial from the earth.

Bulldozers, loaders and other types of relatively common earthmovingequipment can also be used to remove and transport earth or othermaterial. A bulldozer is a conventional device, as described, forexample, in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2005/0126055, and is atracked vehicle equipped with a large thick metal plate, typicallycalled a blade, attached on its front end. As the machine is drivenforward, the blade scrapes, pushes and relocates earthen material. Asimilar machine called a loader, also known as a front loader, front endloader, bucket loader, scoop loader or shovel, is a type of wheeled ortracked vehicle that, like a bulldozer, can scrape and push material,but also has arms and a rotatable bucket that lift and move materialinto, for example, a truck. Loaders and bulldozers may be provided withlinkage and hydraulic couplers that allow the user to replace the bucketor plate with other tools.

Bulldozer and loaders are advantageous in that they are more versatile,more readily available, and may be relatively less expensive compared totractor-scrapers and specialized excavator equipment. However, thesevehicles are typically relatively limited in the amount of material thatthey can remove. For example, bulldozers are typically limited topushing material around and are unable to load material on a truck formore distant dumping. Although a front end loader or other bucket styledevice can lift dirt to a dump truck or other transportation means, theremoval process advances relatively slowly because the operator mustperiodically stop scraping in order to dump the contents of the bucket.Furthermore, a loader bucket can usually store only about 3-5 cubicyards of earthen material before it must be emptied.

It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide adevice that will allow for the quick and efficient scraping and removalof dirt or other earthen material. It is further an objective of thepresent invention to adapt the scraping and removing device forattachment to a standard and versatile piece of equipment such as abulldozer or front-end loader. It is still further an objective of theinvention that the scraper attachment be capable of simultaneouslyscraping the earth and moving material along a boom conveyor to move thematerial to another location, such as a truck.

The following disclosure describes a novel earthmoving device that canbe attached to standard earthmoving equipment and that overcomes thedeficiencies of the prior art.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the above mentioned objectives the inventionprovides an attachment for the front of earthmoving equipment, such as abulldozer or front end loader. More particularly, the invention mayinclude a scraper housing with a back wall, a first side wall, a secondside wall including an opening through a portion of the second sidewall. A scraper blade for scraping material may be located proximate thefront the scraper. An earth transfer plate may be attached to thescraper blade for directing material from the scraper blade to a scraperconveyor. The scraper conveyor may be conveyor belt for continuouslymoving material in a direction toward the second side wall andpositioned so that a top surface of the scraper conveyor belt lies belowat least one edge of the earth transfer plate for catching material asit is scraped and collected.

A rotating material mover can also be mounted on the scraper housing toassist movement of material along the upwardly sloping surface of theearth transfer plate onto the scraper conveyor. This rotating materialmover typically includes a central rotating drum or shaft with radialextensions that sweep earth or other materials up the sloping surface ofthe earth transfer plate onto the conveyor.

The invention may also comprise a boom conveyor attached to, andextending from, an outside portion of the second side wall of thescraper housing and located below the opening in the second side wall tocatch material conveyed past the edge of the scraper conveyor belt, theboom conveyor further comprising a belt oriented to carry the materialaway from the scraper housing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Novel features and advantages of the present invention in addition tothose noted above will become apparent to persons of ordinary skill inthe art from a reading of the following detailed description inconjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein similar referencecharacters refer to similar parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of one embodiment of earthmovingapparatus in accordance with this invention showing an earth movingscraper attachment to a vehicle such as a bulldozer, the attachmenthaving a conveyor system for discharging excavated material;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the earthmoving apparatus shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top elevational view of the earthmoving apparatus shown inFIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is bottom plan view of the scraper housing shown in FIGS. 1-3;and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view in elevation taken along line 5-5 ofFIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a front elevational view of another embodiment of earthmovingapparatus in accordance with this invention showing a rotating materialsmover adjacent the upper end of the scraper blade.

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the earthmoving apparatus shown inFIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the earthmoving apparatus device according the presentinvention will now be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1-5.

FIG. 1 shows a front elevational view of the present invention. By wayof example, a bulldozer 10 or other suitable vehicle is connected to anddrives scraper housing 12, which is designed to scrape earthen material20 and collect it within scraper housing 12 (see FIG. 2). Scraperhousing 12 may be provided with scraper conveyor belt 14 fortransporting material from within scraper housing 12 to boom conveyor16. Material 20 is then carried along boom conveyor 16 until it isdischarged away from scraper housing 12. For example, the material maybe discharged from the boom conveyor 16 into a truck 18.

The scraper housing 12 may be generally box-shaped and may include arear wall 11 and side walls 13 and 15, shown in FIGS. 1 through 3. Thescraper housing may be constructed of steel or other suitable materialand the walls may be approximately one inch thick. The scraper housingmay be approximately twelve feet wide, approximately seven feet deep(i.e. from rear wall 11 to the front edge of scraper blade 24), andapproximately five feet tall. Although scraper housing 12 may beprovided with top, bottom, or front walls (not shown), preferably thescraper housing does not have these elements. Instead, brace 17, whichmay be comprised of steel tubing, may provide structural support betweenside walls 13 and 15 (see FIGS. 1, 2). A reinforcement frame 21 of, forexample, one inch thick steel may be provided around the perimeter ofscraper housing 12 for additional structural support. The scraperhousing 12 may be maintained within the reinforcement frame 21, by anysuitable means including, but not limited to, gravity assisted contact,securing devices such as nut and bolt configurations (not shown), orwelding at one or more points along frame 21. The scraper housing 12 andreinforcement frame 21 may be integral. Other details of scraper housing12 will be provided below with particular reference to its operation.

FIG. 2 shows a side elevational view of scraper housing 12 andillustrates how it is attached to bulldozer 10. A bracket 52, which maybe L-shaped, may be utilized to connect the bulldozer 10 to frame 21, orto scraper housing 12 at back wall 11, or to both the frame 21 andscraper housing 12. The connection may be accomplished using anyconventional linkage mechanism. A hydraulic cylinder 54 may also beattached between the bulldozer 10 and scraper housing 12 to allow theoperator to raise, lower, and/or tilt scraper housing 12. Bracket 52 maybe the arms conventionally used for mounting the original bulldozerblade.

As shown in FIG. 2, when an operator (not shown) drives bulldozer 10forward, the scraper housing 12 is pushed along the earth 22 with thescraper blade 24 impinging into the earth 22 a depth of, for example,approximately 6″ to 12″. As scraper housing 12 is advanced forward,earthen material 20 is scraped from the surface of the earth 22 andcollected within scraper housing 12. More particularly, as scraper blade24 digs into earth 22, earthen material 20 is gathered and forced ontoand along earth transfer plate 26 by virtue of the force of the earthenmaterial 20 being scraped and collected. Upon being pushed beyond theedge of earth transfer plate 26, earthen material 20 is then depositedonto scraper conveyor belt 14. The scraper blade may extend, forexample, approximately two inches from the bottom of the scraper housing12.

The earth transfer plate 26 and scraper blade 24 may be placed at anangle of, for example, 20 to 60 degrees with respect to the bottom ofscraper housing 12. Preferably, the earth transfer plate 26 and scraperblade 24 are oriented at an angle of 30 degrees with respect to thescraper housing 12. Earth transfer plate 26 may be of any suitablematerial of any suitable thickness. For example, earth transfer plate 26may be a one inch thick steel. Blade 24 may also be constructed ofhardened steel and may have a tapered end to enhance the scrapingfunction. Blade 24 may extend approximately two inches below the bottomof scraper housing 12.

As mentioned above, material 20 is deposited from the earth transferplate 26 onto the scraper conveyor belt 14. Scraper belt 14 may becomprised of metal, rubber, plastic, fabric, or other suitable materialand may be driven by one or more motors 28. The motor(s) 28 may bepowered by a separate power supply located on the rear of the vehicle10. Alternatively, the motors 28 may be hydraulic and may be connectedto the hydraulic system of the bulldozer 10. Belt 14 may be supported byrollers 30 located proximate to side wall 13 and side wall 15 of scraper12. Additional, and potentially smaller, rollers 32 may also be placedunder belt 14 to provide additional support. Rollers 30 and 32 maycomprise bearings (not shown) that are mounted on rods (not shown) as isconventional in the arts of roller and conveyor belt technologies.Rollers 30 and 32 may be attached to scraper housing 12 at the back wall11 and at center support member 57 to provide support to scraper belt14. Center support member 57 may be attached to side wall 13 and sidewall 15 and may provide support to the earth transfer plate 26.Alternatively or additionally, center support member 57 may be attachedto and supported by one or more lateral cross-members 56. Motor 28 turnsbelt 14 and advances material 20 toward opening 19 provided in side wall13 which is aligned with boom conveyor 16, as shown in FIG. 3.

As belt 14 turns, material 20 is eventually deposited onto boom conveyor16. Boom conveyor is attached to side wall 13 at brackets 39 using anyconventional means, such as, for example, a bolt and nut configuration.Boom conveyor 16 comprises a belt 34 that may be driven by a motor 36.Boom conveyor 16 may also be provided with rollers 38 at each end toallow belt 34 to rotate more freely. Rollers 38 may comprise bearings(not shown) that are mounted on rods (not shown) as is conventional inthe art and described with respect to rollers 30 and 32 above. Supportstructure 40 may be provided between rollers 38 to provide structuralsupport for belt 34. Belt 34 may also be provided with raised surfaces42 to improve the transportation of material 20 along boom conveyor 16,as further described below.

Boom 16 may be supported by one or more boom support members 44, whichmay comprise a cable, wire, rod or other suitable means of support. Ananchor bracket 46 or other attachment means may be provided to attachsupport member 44 to boom 16. Support member 44 may be attached toscraper housing 12 with mounting bracket 48. Support member 44 mayfurther be provided with an adjustor 50 to permit a user to raise andlower boom 16. Adjustor 50 may be manual or power-assisted with ahydraulic cylinder or other suitable power means. If the adjustor 50 isa hydraulic cylinder as show in FIGS. 1 and 3, the adjustor may beconnected to the hydraulic system of the bulldozer 10. A hydraulicpowered or manual winch (not shown) may be used as adjustor 50 ratherthan hydraulic cylinder 50 shown. Boom 16 may be provided with asuitable length and angle to efficiently advance and discharge material20 into a truck 18, which may have a height of, for example, 10-13 feet.

As shown in FIG. 4, the bottom of scraper housing 12 may be generallyopen, but may comprise lateral cross members 56, which may extend to andprovide support for blade 24, earth transfer plate 26, center supportmember 57 and back wall 11. Adjacent cross members 56 may be spacedapart by, for example, approximately twelve inches. As FIG. 4 alsoshows, blade 24 may be secured to earth transfer plate 26 by bolts 58 orother suitable securing means. Transfer plate 26 may be welded to crossmembers 56. Bolts 58, or other suitable attaching means, may be used toattach replaceable cutting edge 24.

As shown in FIG. 5, conveyor belt 14 may be provided with chevron orV-shaped raised portions 59. The chevron or V-shape is preferablyoriented as shown in FIG. 3 so that the center of the V-shape followsthe ends of the V-shape in the direction of travel, which areillustrated for belts 14 and 16 by arrows 60 and 62, respectively. TheV-shaped pattern assists in urging material 20 toward opening 19 andalong boom 16 thereby preventing material slippage.

Another embodiment of this invention is illustrated in FIGS. 6-7. Inthis embodiment the structure of the basic scraper housing 12 isessentially the same as on the prior embodiment. Sidewalls 13 and 15 arestructurally oriented in generally parallel alignment at the ends of thescraper housing 12. A structural brace 17 and center support 57 connectthe sidewalls as described in more detail above. Scraper housing 12 isoperably mounted to bulldozer 10 or like earthmoving vehicle with thebracket 52 and cylinder 54 as also described above. The boon 16containing conveyor belt 34 and its attachment to the scraper housing(brackets 39 and 46 and support number 44) can be the same as shown inFIGS. 1-5.

A scraper blade 24, preferably of hardened steel, is attached to theearth transfer plate 26 with suitable bolts or fasteners 58. Asdescribed above it is oriented to the earthen surface being excavated ata suitable angle relative to the surface of the earth so that movementof earth 22 or other material is forced upwardly across the earthtransfer plate 26 toward the scraper conveyor belt 14.

Certain types of earth 20 or other material, particularly heavy, wetmaterial, rocky soil, clay, trash laden earth and the like do notreadily progress up the earth transfer plate 26 toward conveyor belt 14,even at low angles (20-30 degrees). Such materials tend to aggregate andpile up near the middle to upper portions of earth transfer plate 26 anddo not readily discharge over the upper edge of that plate onto conveyorbelt 14. This retarded movement of earth or other material onto conveyorbelt 14 and then into truck 18 via boom 16 can impair the throughput ofthis apparatus. This problem reduces its value to the user, typically aroad builder or like contractor.

To improve throughput in the situation where earth 20 or other materialdoes not readily move up earth transfer plate 26 onto scraper conveyorbelt 14, a rotating material mover 70 can be used. As shown in FIGS.6-7, the material mover 70 typically includes a central, rotating shaftor drum 72 which is mounted to sidewalls 13 and 15 of scraper housing 12in suitable bearings or journals 74, 76. A drum 72 is preferred becauseits tubular structure reduces deflection across the span betweensidewalls 13 and 15. The material mover 70 is rotated by a suitable beltor chain 78 driven by a motor 80. Alternatively, the material mover 70can be driven by a hydraulic motor or powered from the bulldozer orother vehicle 10, or other suitable power means. Preferably, thematerial mover rotates at about 50-100 revolutions per minute.

Suitable vanes or paddles 82 are mounted on the peripheral surface ofrotating drum or shaft 72 and rotate with that shaft. As illustratedthese vanes or paddles 82 are shown as plates mounted at a ninety degree(90°) angle to the axis of shaft or drum 72. However, it is to beunderstood that such vanes 82 can be oriented at various angles to thataxis. In addition the alignment of such vanes or paddles 82 can be otherthan in a straight line as shown. The invention also contemplates ahelical or other configuration of the vanes 82 on shaft or drum 78 tobest move earth or other material up and over the top of earth transferplate 26 onto conveyor belt 14.

In a preferred embodiment drum 72 has vanes 82 which are about 12″×3″×1″thick. They are arranged in four rows spaced at 90 degrees around theperiphery of the drum—(90 degree-180 degree-270 degree-360 degree). Eachrow is offset about six inches from the preceding row as shown in FIG.6.

In operation, material mover 70 can be rotated whenever the nature ofthe material being moved up the earth transfer plate 26 causes it toback up at the top of that plate and not readily move onto conveyor belt14. This rotation of material mover 70 can be accomplished by simplyactivating motor 80 that drives the material mover as previouslydescribed. The axis of material mover 70 is positioned on sidewalls 13,15 of scraper housing 12 so that the outer ends of vanes, paddles 82 orother configurations extending from shaft or drum 72 are sufficientlyclose to the upper surface of earth transfer plate 26 to move the earth20 or other material up the slope of earth transfer plate 26 ontoconveyor belt 14. In a preferred embodiment the shaft or drum 72 islocated on sidewalls of scraper housing 12 so that vanes or paddles 82pass over the sloped surface of plate 26 at about the midpoint betweenthe earth 22 and the scrapper conveyor belt 14. To maintain properspacing of the vanes 82 from the surface of plate 26 it is preferable touse a drum instead of a shaft to carry blades or vanes 82. The stiffnessof the drum helps to avoid deflection that might adversely affect thisgap between vane tips and the upper surface of plate 26.

The foregoing description of the invention illustrates and describes thepresent invention. Additionally, the disclosure shows and describes onlythe preferred embodiments of the invention, but it is to be understoodthat the invention is capable of use in various other combinations,modifications, and environments and is capable of changes ormodifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressedherein, commensurate with the above teachings, and/or the skill orknowledge in the art of equipment manufacture. Accordingly, thedescription is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosedherein. Also, it is intended that the appended claims be construed toinclude alternative embodiments.

1. A materials moving apparatus comprising: a motor operated vehicle; ascraper housing attached to the vehicle; a conveyor belt operatingwithin the housing to discharge material from the housing; an upwardlysloped materials transfer plate attached to the housing having a firstedge proximate the material being moved and a second edge locatedproximate to and above the conveyor belt for conveying material to theconveyor; and a rotating material mover mounted on the housing adjacentthe earth transfer plate to assist in transfer of material from theplate to the conveyor
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein thematerial mover is a rotating drum with vanes mounted thereon
 3. Theapparatus according to claim 1 wherein the material mover is a shaftwith members extending therefrom into close proximity to the uppersurface of the earth transfer plate.
 4. The apparatus according to claim2 wherein the members extending from the material mover are arranged ina helical pattern.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein theaxes of the material mover is located near the middle of the materialstransfer plate.
 6. An earthmoving attachment comprising: A scraperhousing including a scraper blade, an upwardly sloped earth transferplate, a scraper conveyor belt positioned below the upper edge of thesloped earth transfer plate for continuously moving material frommaterial transfer plate toward an opening in the scraper housing; and amaterial mover adjacent the material transfer plate for assistingmovement of the material from the sloped material transfer plate ontothe conveyor.